AMERICA'S FIRST POLAR EXPEDITION 



war and such other vessels as he might deem needful, 

 appropriating $150,000 for expenses, and authorizing the 

 Executive to make use of an equivalent amount, in addition, 

 drawn from means under the control of the Navy Depart- 

 ment. The intention was that this expedition should weigh 

 anchor in the fall; but, unfortunately for this plan, the com- 

 mand was offered Captain Thomas ap Catesby Jones, and 

 his acceptance involved a series of the most extraordinary 

 contentions and delays that ever marred the success of a 

 scientific enterprise. 



For two years the preparation of the ships hitched 

 along, while all concerned in equipping them wrangled, 

 and the public laughed. Only the merest outline of the 

 matter can be given here, but whosoever desires to spend 

 an entertaining day over interesting literature, is recom- 

 mended to the letters that appeared in 1837 and 1838 in 

 the " New York Courier," the " Army and Navy Chronicle 

 and Scientific Repository," and particularly in a certain 

 report, No. 147, among the executive documents of the 

 Twenty-fifth Congress. This document consists mainly of 

 letters. There were giant letter-writers in those days, and 

 naval officers aired their grievances in public with an 

 elaborateness of diction as well as a freedom of speech that 

 is surprising to the reader in this epoch of reserve. 



Captain ap Catesby Jones was a particularly fine navi- 

 gator of the pen. His letters are full of flowing periods. 

 They are also full of italics. In his time, italics were not 

 quite out of fashion, and his underscoring may have ap- 

 peared natural; nowadays his letters seem fairly to 

 scream. Captain Jones was apparently a fine type of the 

 old time sea-dog; an honest, peppery, narrow, headstrong 

 man, with the dignity of the United States Navy, and of 

 the office of post-captain therein heavy upon him; and to 

 his sense of the consideration due to his rank are to be 

 attributed many of the delays in the equipment. 



The first delay arose from his conception of the scope 

 of the expedition, which was grander than the conception 

 of Congress. Instead of a sloop-of-war, a brig, and a 

 schooner, he requested a second-class frigate, two barques 

 or brigs, a store-ship and a schooner. The administration 

 fell in with his plans, but the vessels were not at hand; 



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